Hitaashee rides a roller-coaster in Round 3, stretches lead to three in Women's Indian Open; 5 Indians in top 20

Gurugram (Haryana) [India], October 11 : India's Hitaashee Bakshi registered a third straight under-par round at the Hero Women's Indian Open to open a three-shot lead over the rest of the field after the third round in the USD 500,000 event.

The only player with three under-par rounds this week, Hitaashee has shot 70-67-70 this week and is 9-under 207 for 54 holes. The 21-year-old, who has never finished in the Top-10 of an LET event, is three shots clear of the three-time LET winner, England's Alice Hewson (69-72-69), who is at 6-under 210, as per a release from the Indian Open.

The Indian tricolour dominated the leaderboard, as Pranavi Urs (72-67-73) is third at 4-under, while rookie Avani Prashanth (73-71-70), who in 2023 was Tied-fifth as an amateur, is at Tied-fourth. Alongside Avani are four others, including amateur Zara Anand, who, after being 4-over today through the first six holes, also finished at 4-over to stay in the hunt.

Pranavi, who was 5-under and Tied-fourth after the second day, shot 73 but still moved up to sole third.

Avani Prashanth, Tied-14th after day 2, shot 2-under 70, which was steady and unhurried with three birdies against one bogey. She moved up to Tied-fourth, seven behind leader Hitaashee. Avani will need a fast start and some help from those ahead of her to make a bid for her maiden title.

There were more Indians close by as Vani Kapoor, the first-round leader, shot 74 and was Tied-ninth at 1-under 215, and Amandeep Drall (72), who was joint runner-up in 2022, was T-12 at even par 216.

After a relatively steady 2-under 70 on the first day and a bogey-free 67 on the second, Hitaashee kept her nerves and confidence even as her fortunes ebbed and flowed through the day.

Hitaashee said, "It's good, like I said, I don't really think that much. I'm just going one shot at a time. It's my home course, no pressure. So just go out and play. "

It was exhausting in the back nine because the rough really did get off me, and there was like a birdie-bogie, birdie-boogie pattern that started following, but I'm really glad that I followed it all through the end.

"The 7th hole was a 92-yard shot for me from the middle of the fairway, and I chunked it, which was very unexpected for me to do, and then there was a 40-yard chip, which I again chunked and that was a double bogey for me, but I really held my calm from the 7th hole into the 8th tee: she added.

The lead, which was one stroke at the start of the day, swelled to as much as six, and it seemed Hitaashee was running away, the release said.

Hitaashee opened with a birdie and added a second gain on the fifth to stretch her lead. Then came a double bogey, but Hitaashee showed tremendous grit and fought back with birdies on the 9th, 10th and the 12th.

The bumpy ride continued as she bogeyed the 14th and birdied the 15th before she dropped a shot yet again on the 17th. Her lead, which was once six, was now down to three as Alice Hewson, playing two groups ahead, birdied 17-18 to quickly climb to 6-under.

On the 18th, Hitaashee had a tough chip and even the smallest of mistakes by her would have meant the lead being further reduced. The chip had even the spectators gasping, but Hitaashee very skillfully kept the ball on land and put the ball three feet from the pin on the challenging 18th, and parred the hole for a round of 70, which started with a roaring birdie and ended with a par that elicited an even louder roar.

Speaking on the course and family support, Hitaashee added, "This is DLF; anything can happen. It doesn't matter which country you're from or what you're playing. I mean, this is DLF. You can be hitting really great shots on the practice range, but when you get on tee 1, you just don't know what's happening. It's just DLF being DLF."

On her mother following her, she said, "My mom - I mean she's always there, so she's a constant support for me."

Pranavi admitted to a struggle, as she said, "It was a bit of a struggle for me today. I didn't hit the ball well or putt well. But I think with all that, I was pretty calm out there, and then I was patient. It felt like a lot more, but one-over was pretty good with the way I played."

She added, "I didn't putt well and I had a double on the 14th - had a three-putt which was not the best, but we'll go again tomorrow. I think tomorrow's going to be go big or go home. I think I'm going to try and go for it as much as I can", added Pranavi.

Hewson, who was T-11 at HWIO last year and T-12 in 2022, was pleased with her show, which included a stretch of eight holes without a par. "I really enjoy it here. The course kind of suits my eye quite well, there aren't many courses that you go to in a year where you can turn around and say that. So it puts such a high premium on fairways and greens, and when you do that, you seem to come away with a few birdies, which is nice. Today was really unusual for my game. I'm normally pretty steady throughout, so to have eight holes in a row without a par was really unusual, but I did make a joke that the people doing the scoreboards must not have liked me for a period there, as they kept having to move my name up and down and changing the score back and forward. But kind of enjoying my time out there and staying as patient as I can, really."

The 18th was a bit tricky because I was actually in a divot in the fairway. It was a perfect number, which is always good, but I had to just kind of stick it back in my stance a little bit, get it coming in a bit lower, and just to ensure the strike and for that pin position, it was the absolutely perfect play. I'm happy to come off with a birdie."

She concluded, "I'm just going to go and kind of try and keep steady. And you just have to stay really calm and collected out there. Whether you make birdies or bogeys, you just kind of have to brush it off and carry on because this course is so demanding. So yeah, just nice and steady, hopefully."

Of the dozen Indians who cut, six were in the Top 12. In contrast, the others were Ridhima Dilawari (76) and Durga Nittur (78) at T-43, Hitaashee's elder sister, Jahanvi Bakshi (79) and Jasmine Shekar (79) at T-55, and Tvesa Malik (79) was at T-60. Diksha Dagar (79), who has been under the weather this week, was in 63rd Place.

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